There are plenty of families who sit down every year to be thankful and share no more tradition than watching football and eating turkey. While those are great times to have together, there is so much more that can be added to the holidays. When everyone gets involved, the kids grow up having richer, fuller lives that they look back on with fond memories.
Create Tree Trimmings
While you have the friends and family over to your house for Thanksgiving, why don’t you get everyone involved in helping with your Christmas decorations? Buy a few supplies. Let the kids do all the drawing, gluing, cutting and creating. Adults can help with the difficult parts and add their own touches here and there.
The kids will look forward to Thanksgiving next year. Plus, they’ll feel more invested in Christmas this year. They’ll want to see their decorations and they’ll brag about it to all their friends. But most importantly, it will really add perspective to the proper order of the holidays in this holiday season. Christmas comes after Thanksgiving, not before Halloween!
Hands Over the Years
There are several ways to put this idea together. Each child can have their own cloth or the children can all share one. But, either Thanksgiving or Christmas are perfect days to start collecting handprints while you have the family together.
As kids grow, collecting something that brings back memories will be something that will last forever. So every Thanksgiving or Christmas, have them stamp their hand on their cloth. If you start them when they’re small, their cloth will really be something special as they grow older.
Always ask your kids what color they want and make their handprint cloth a colorful collection. Have them write their own name and age beside their handprint. It’s a personal touch that will bring the project full circle. Plus, you never have to worry about moving over the years. You might not be able to take a measuring wall with you, but you can simply pack a handprint cloth.
Gingerbread House
You see ceramic gingerbread houses at Christmas time. Stores might even put architecturally grand gingerbread houses on display. But, why can’t you build one yourself for you and your family?
Better yet, you can get the family involved and you can all build one together. You can find recipes at the local bookstore, at the grocery store, and even online. Then, all you have to do is follow the instructions to a build a real gingerbread house this year. It’s different and yet, it’s tradition.
Bring back some of the old spirit and bring the holidays back to life this year. Commercialization is fine. Our economy can definitely use the boost in commerce. But, throw out some of those commercial traditions you have embraced over the years and start putting more fun activities into the celebration festivities.
